Fundamental needs for the design of the structures in question are required by the geometry and the weight of the various barriques, in order to construct structures, which are useful for the different types of barrique, having slightly different measures and all with a total weight, when full, in the order of about 300 kg.
The barriques are used for wine refinement, which can take place both in industrial environments and in entertaining rooms destined to house also visitors, and where the aesthetical appearance is therefore more important. In the first case, the reduction in positioning times, the maintenance and handling of barriques must allow low administration costs; in known solutions, the barriques were positioned coupled onto metallic frames, constructed with profiles in steel or aluminum, or wood, which allow fast handling through lifting equipment and forklifts.
For a safe and easy engagement by the forklifts, the frames must provide for very precautionary spaces for engaging the lifting means, that on the other hand increase spaces between the barriques and decrease the storing capacity of the rooms; generally, this disadvantage is tolerated or compensated through greater volumes of the storing environments, which can be designed in the modern realities. The steel or aluminum frame for barriques is therefore suitable for the purpose for which it has been designed.
Other alternate systems have been studied to find increasingly great benefits—in storing and handling—to the detriment of the traditional aesthetic appearance of the wooden barrique.
All these solutions can not be applied in those realities in which the “tradition” is an important feature, i.e. where, around the barriques, particularly suggestive atmospheres are created, respectful of the wine and of the ancient tradition of wine producers. Currently, in these places, defined as “wine temples”, the barriques are generally positioned on elements made of typical woods such as durmast oak or oak; the most utilized solutions consist in positioning on beams, saddles or simple wedges interposed between the barriques.
In some cases, attempts have been made to combine the above mentioned requirements through the construction of wooden supports with possibility of handling, in particular with saddles suitable to be forked by the forklifts for the handling of the single barriques. However, the modest mechanical features of wood do not allow construction of frames for the required contemporaneous handling of at least two barriques.